File photo shows tourists at the Chocolate Hills view deck in the municipality of Carmen, one of Bohol’s and the Philippines’ top tourist attractions. (LEO UDTOHAN / INQUIRER VISAYAS)
MANILA, Philippines — Foreign tourist arrivals in the country breached the 1.4 million mark from January 1 to April 5, 2023, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).
The DOT, in a statement on Wednesday, reported the arrival of 1,465,253 international visitors as of April 5 this year.
Of the total number of foreign visitors, 369,354 were from South Korea. The second biggest market was the United States (263,596), followed by Canada (73,079)
In an earlier report, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said the department aims to have at least 4.8 million tourist arrivals this year, almost double the 2.5 million visitors last year.
“We look at it with optimism in a sense that our goal is to exceed our conservative projections in the same way that we have been able to exceed it this year,” Frasco said in an earlier statement.
“And we feel that we would be able to exceed our pre-pandemic numbers way earlier than the 2025 that was told to us when we assumed office with the improved policies under the Marcos administration,” she added.
Frasco also noted that the agency conducts job fairs “to meet the demands of employers following the influx of travelers brought by more than three years of closed borders.”
Among these initiatives are the DOT and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) “Trabaho, Turismo, Asenso” job fair that so far offered a total of 16,485 employment opportunities to job seekers.
The job fair’s third leg is on May 11 this year.